Temporary Minor Planet Designations¶
Temporary designations are assigned by observers prior to the assignment of provisional designations by the Minor Planet Center. With the rapid speed of e-mail communication, official provisional designations can be assigned very rapidly and there is no need for temporary designations to be publicised. In the past, when communication was slow, temporary designations were often published.
There were a large number of temporary-designation schemes and to give full details on each of them would be a major undertaking. The notes below detail which schemes are included for the purposes of searching and give some examples of valid search strings.
Format Key¶
{LETTER} indicates capital letters (one or more, see examples
for which schemes allow both)
{letter} indicates lowercase letters (one or more, see examples
for which schemes allow both)
{year} indicates a year
{number} indicates a number (one or more numbers)
{greek} is a lower-case Greek letter (e.g., alpha or beta)
{RN} is a Roman numeral (e.g., I or IX)
For convenience some parts of certain designations are optional. Optional parts are
indicated in brackets []. Other parts may be abbreviated as shown.
Designation Schemes by Observatory¶
| Site | Format | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Algiers | Alger {LETTER} or Alg {LETTER} |
Alger A, Alger CM, Alg A, Alg CM |
| Alma-Ata | Alma-Ata [Nr.] {number} or {year} A{number} |
Alma-Ata Nr. 1, 1952 A1, A1 |
| Arequipa | Arequipa {letter} or Areq {letter} or Arequipa {number} or Areq {number} |
Arequipa a, Areq a, Arequipa 17, Areq 17 |
| Belgrade | {year} {letter} [(Beograd)] or {letter} |
1956 x (Beograd), 1956 x, x |
| Flagstaff | A{number} |
A0, A7 |
| Heidelberg | Wolf [Nr.] {number} or Wolf {letter} or Wolf {greek} or Heid {number} |
Wolf Nr. 18, Wolf 18, Wolf u, Wolf alpha, Heid 1, Heid 234 |
| Johannesburg | {LETTER} or G {number} or T {number} |
A, E, G 1, G 21, T 9, T 16 |
| Kyoto-Kwasan | {number} or {letter} |
1, 6, d |
| La Plata | [La Plata] {year} {RN} or [La Plata] {year} {LETTER} |
La Plata 1951 I, 1951 I, La Plata 1950 G, 1950 G |
| Lick | [Asteroid] {LETTER} |
Asteroid B, B |
| Mount Wilson | [Asteroid] {LETTER} or {LETTER} |
Asteroid A, A, D |
| Nanking (PMO) | P.O. {number} or PO {number} |
P.O. 32, P.O. 189, PO 32, PO 189 |
| Nauchnij (CrAO) | N{number} or K{number} |
N1, K1, K3423 |
| Simeis | [1942] SIGMA K{number} or [1942] SIG K{number} or sigma {number} |
1942 SIGMA K1, SIGMA K1, 1942 SIG K1, SIG K1, sigma 1, sigma 229 |
| Taunton | Taunton {digit} |
Taunton 83 |
| Tokyo-Mitaka | Tokyo {LETTER} or Tokyo {letter} or Tokyo {number} or Tokyo {year} {LETTER} |
Tokyo B, Tokyo b, Tokyo 20, Tokyo 1954 D |
| Turku | T-{number} |
T-1, T-774 |
| Uccle | {letter} [(Uccle)] or {letter}{number} [(Uccle)] or [{year}] U {number} |
p (Uccle), p, x2 (Uccle), x2, 1945 U 12, U 12 |
| Washington | {year} W {digit} |
1917 W 15, 1923 W 21 |
| Yerkes | Y.O. {number} or YO {number} |
Y.O. 23, YO 23 |
Named objects are referred to as Object {name}. For example, Object Reinmuth or Object Wilson-Wallenquist.